


Merry Rumbelle Christmas

by LucidaCentury (Sephora909)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 11:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2849897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephora909/pseuds/LucidaCentury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle gets homesick as the winter solstice approaches. Rumplestiltskin would like to make her stop crying, but doesn’t quite know what to do. (With Mr. Dove as a dove, a snow Rumple, and a snow Belle).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Rumbelle Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Like and reblog this fanfic [on tumblr](http://lucidacentury.tumblr.com/post/106137076721/merry-rumbelle-christmas)

Rumpelstiltskin had left Belle by herself in the Dark Castle to go make a deal. She was supposed to clean the main room, but these days, her heart wasn’t in it. She sighed deeply as she looked out the window. It was snowing again. The winter solstice was coming. For the first time in her life, she wouldn’t be with her father. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Crying wouldn’t change anything. As for leaving… She had given her word to Rumplestiltskin and she would keep it, no matter how lonely she would be at the solstice.

“Oh, dearie,” a now familiar sarcastic voice said. “Tell me you have a speck of dust in your eye from cleaning too much.”

“I’m… I’m not crying.” 

Her weak defense alone would have betrayed her, but her hoarse voice spoke volumes about her grief. For the thousandth time at least, Rumplestiltskin cursed himself for bringing the princess here. In truth, he hadn’t expected her to accept to pay his price, and much less thought she would last a month in his empty castle, working as a simple servant. She did try hard to hold her end of the bargain, he had to give her that. He just hoped she would do it without crying all day long. And with the solstice coming, he would never hear the end of her sobs. How was he supposed to get any work done? The Dark One went to sit at his spinning wheel to quickly forget what he was about to do and regret.

“Since you find dusting so unpleasant, you can go outside and clean the aviary. Maybe when you’re freezing, you’ll be glad to work inside.”

For a moment, only the rhythmic creaking of the spinning wheel could be heard. What was wrong with this woman again? He turned around just to watch her stop as she was walking closer to him.

“You mean… I can go outside? Alone?”

“Did the dust affect your ears too?” he snapped. “And don’t bother coming back until you’re ready to do some actual work.”

Despite his less than friendly answer, Belle shyly smiled at the sorcerer. Since she got here, he was always so quick to remind her she wasn’t allowed to get out, that she couldn’t believe her ears when she heard him tell otherwise. She didn’t quite know what to make of it, but she was on the brink of running to hug him.

Oh no. Now she was smiling. Danger. Rumplestiltskin ignored her and went back to his spinning before she mistook her new assignment for sympathy.

“Can I get a coat? It’s… it’s snowing.”

“Whatever will make you go away,” he answered.

With a wave of his hand, Rumplestiltskin summoned his magic. At once, purple smoke enveloped Belle from head to toe. When it cleared, his caretaker was snugly wrapped in a blue wool coat lined with gold thread. The thick outerwear came with matching mittens and high leather boots, so she could get lost in the gigantic garden and not get frozen.

The Dark One stubbornly refused to look at her and admire his good work. She already looked stunning enough with the simple blue dress he provided, he didn’t want to ogle her any more than usual — which was already too much for an old monster like him.

“It’s so beautiful,” she praised him. “Thank you.”

Rumplestiltskin was pretty sure he heard her smile. He couldn’t have her thinking he was soft on her. He had a reputation to maintain, damn it!

“You’ll thank me when you’re done working.”

With that, he magically teleported her outside in the cold winter. Belle immediately felt the change of temperature. Though her new layers kept her warm, the wind was definitely frosty. The wind… She hadn’t felt it since an eternity. And the snow! There was enough of it to build a snowman! She would definitely do that once she’s done with the aviary. After all, Rumplestiltskin didn’t seem too eager to have her back inside the castle.

Belle jumped when she heard a bird cooing behind her. Turning back, she discovered a large cage, as large as the dungeon cell she slept in, with a single white dove inside. The bird perched just under the roof was staring down at her and seemed perfectly comfortable despite the cold. Rumplestiltskin must have enchanted it to protect it from the terrible weather. He had also well furnished the aviary: there were lots of perches, loops and large twigs to entertain the small animal. No wonder the bird didn’t fly away though it could come and go as it wished. The Dark One was certainly very fond of it.

For a moment, Belle wondered if she would one day meet the same fate. It had only taken her a couple of days to realize he had no need for a caretaker. Sure, the place was filthy, but he could very well take care of it in less than a second thanks to his magic. Maybe he just wanted another pretty bird… He must have been so lonely living in this huge castle on his own.

She looked for what she could clean in the cage, but it was immaculate. There was more food than ten bird could eat in a month and not a single stain to be seen. Why had Rumplestiltskin send her here if there was nothing for her to do? Could it that he… that he just wanted to allow her to go outside and enjoy the snow without actually telling her? After all, he had given her fine warm clothes and told her to take her time. Maybe the terrifying sorcerer wasn’t as heartless as people said.

Rumplestiltskin was getting impatient. It has been hours since he teleported her maid outside and there was still no sign of her coming back. At first, he discreetly glanced out the window to try to spot her in the white scenery without her seeing him. But the more he failed to find her, the closer he got to the window. Once his face was pressed against the glass, he started to really worry about the girl. She was such a clumsy thing, who knew what trouble she could be in? He ran outside, grabbing only his ragged coat on the way.

“Belle! Belle, where are you? Come here at once!”

It felt a bit wrong to call her like he would a dog, but he didn’t know any established way to call one’s lost maid. When he didn’t get any answer, he strided across his snowy garden to the aviary, all the while mumbling about how stupid he had been to deal for a princess in the first place.

“There. Now, Mr. Dove, don’t you think he looks perfect? If Rumplestiltskin could make him come alive with his magic, he’d have a twin of snow.”

His lovely caretaker seemed to be in a much better mood. She was talking to his dove — Snow White’s influence? — and was busy building a snowman which he desperately hoped didn’t look like Belle said. As quietly as he could, he sneaked behind her to get a better look at her creation, but even the Dark One was helpless against the squeaking snow. Belle quickly turned around at the sound of his footsteps. Her face displayed a perfect mixture of fear and embarrassment.

“Well, what do we have here? A slacker of a servant, playing in the snow like a child instead of cooking my dinner, and her horrible snow… it IS me.”

Rumplestiltskin came closer to the snow person to study it face to face. He had to admit Belle had some talent with the snow: the snowman had a scaly vest of leaves, wavy hair of straw mixed with snow, and a mischievous smile of seeds. All the other details were either sculpted or drawn, like his fearsome claws and the infernally long laces of his boots.

“It’s a tradition, in my kingdom,” Belle hesitantly began to explain.

When her master turned toward her, he saw her rosy cheeks had darkened with unease. Yet her shy smile looked good enough to eat.

“We build snowmen looking like people we care about. And if the snowmen are still here after the winter solstice, it will bring luck for the year to come to the people they look like.”

When she finished, she didn’t quite dare to meet his eyes. Of that, he was grateful. This way, she couldn’t notice how lost he felt at her words, particularly at the “people we care about” part.

Belle had feared he would discover her and her snow Rumplestiltskin. She wanted to do this for him, but without him knowing about it, because she had no idea how he would react. It seemed neither did he. His face was scrunched up and he had stopped moving altogether, which has rare enough to be pointed out and written on the calendar. He looked kind of cute this way. Too bad she couldn’t see if he was blushing because of his golden skin. Although it seemed to her like like it darkened. As soon as he noticed her small smile, he unfroze.

“Well… what are you waiting for? Go to the kitchen before you catch the flu. I’m not generous enough to let you spend a lazy week in bed.”

Before Belle could do or say anything, he strutted to the castle without checking if she was following him. Truly, if a simple act of kindness could throw him off so, the Dark One could be as well called the Dark Puppy. Her new life at the not so Dark Castle didn’t seem as bleak as it used to.

The following few days, Belle saw little of Rumplestiltskin. He was always busy in his workroom, or some remote part of the castle, or even outside the castle. He never showed up at mealtime, and prefered to sneak in the kitchen to take his food away when she wasn’t looking. Most of the time, she couldn’t find him when she was to bring him his tea, and when she did find him, he quickly dismissed her without even glancing at her. Psychologists would have gotten gray hair, or gone bald, trying to understand the strange sorcerer.

The worst in this situation was that his absence didn’t mean less work, but more. Each morning, he left her a desperately long list of duties she had to attend to. By the time she accomplished all her assignments, she was so exhausted she couldn’t even read. Too bad, she would have liked to go see how the snow Rumplestiltskin was faring.

Since there wasn’t anything she could do to bring Rumplestiltskin back to his normal self, she patiently waited for him to come around. For a long moment, Belle hesitated to give him a present for the winter solstice, as was the custom in her kingdom. If a simple snowman put him in such a strange state, she couldn’t begin to imagine what effect a present would have on him. Still, she thought of the perfect gift she could give him, and kept this idea in mind, just in case.

The long-awaited day eventually came. After days of cold darkness, the gray clouds finally decided to let some rays of sunshine to bypass them. Belle hoped it was a good omen. Like any other day, she prepared herself for her duties: she washed her face, put on her simple blue dress, and fasten her hair with a discreet brown ribbon. She walked through the empty main room to go prepare her lunatic master’s breakfast which he probably wouldn’t eat before it went cold.

When she brought the tray to the main room, she was startled to find Rumplestiltskin sitting on his usual chair. He looked uncomfortable, to say the least: he was wriggling and looking around as if he expected to be attacked by an invisible foe. Belle repressed her smile and came in as if she hadn’t seen anything. Just like with skittish animals, she tried not to make sudden movements or attract attention to what made him stressful.

“Good morning, Rumplestiltskin,” she chirped.

The Dark One actually jumped when he heard her. Had he forgotten that out of the two of them, he was the frightening sorcerer in the room?

“Belle,” he simply answered her.

Just like on any normal day, she poured his tea in the chipped cup he was mysteriously so fond of and put it in front of him. Instead of taking it, he looked up at her.

“Belle, would you please sit down for a moment?”

His serious tone got her worried. She immediately imagined the worst. What if the reason he was acting so strangely lately was because something happened to her father and he didn’t dare to tell her? She didn’t bother to wonder where the chair next to him appeared from and sat.

Rumplestiltskin had been living in hell for the past few days, torn between his reputation and his maid’s well-being. At some point, he had decided that he wanted to do this for her. The remaining problem was he had no idea how to tell her the news and her wide terrified eyes didn’t make the matter any easier.

“I’m not about to eat you, girl, you can breath,” he scolded her. “I just wanted to tell you…” he hesitated one last time before taking a deep breath and getting it out. “You can send a letter to your father as a winter solstice present. Now go, you’re dismissed for the day.”

Belle didn’t realize right away what he told her. Was he making fun of her? She thought she would never be able to talk to her father ever again and now…

Rumplestiltskin got up and tried to sneak out the room before she could thank him, but he obviously underestimated her. He just had enough time to turn his back on her before she hugged him as tight as… As Bae.

“Thank you, Rumplestiltskin. You have no idea how much it means to me. Thank you.”

The Dark One was as stiff as a piece of hood in her arms. He didn’t even dare to breath. Belle couldn’t care less if her contact repulsed him. He had given her more than she could have ever expected from him and she would make sure he understands just how grateful she was.

“It’s only a letter,” he calmly said as he gently extracted himself from his maid’s grip.

When he turned to face her, he saw with dismay that she was crying. He couldn’t handle that. Why had he done something so nice? He could hear his fearsome reputation flying out the window.

“You will not get any answer from him. And I forbid you from saying one word about me or this castle. Is that clear?”

The only answer he got was a nod and a stupidly pleased grin. He’d better lock himself up in his workroom before he made an even bigger fool of himself. He started to walk away when Belle called him.

“Rumplestiltskin.”

What did she want now? A kiss? The magic of winter solstice had its limits, it wouldn’t turn him into a dashing prince.

“How will I send my letter?”

“Just give it to me, my dove will take care of it.”

Again, he turned back to actually run away, and again, his damned maid stopped him.

“The thing is, I already wrote a letter. So I just have to fetch it. Will you stay here? Then we’ll send it together right away.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Now if she could just leave him alone, he would get some time to recover from this emotional ordeal.

“I’ll go get it, then. And after that, I’ll give you your present.”

“Present?” he let the word slip out of his mouth.

“Did you really think I would forget you?”

Belle walked past him and gave him the sweetest and warmest smile he had ever gotten since his son left.

The once princess ran to her dungeon cell as fast as her legs carried her. She still couldn’t believe the letter she wrote while Rumplestiltskin had his back turned was finally going to be send to her father. The moment she opened the heavy door, she kicked her shoes off to replace them with her warm boots. She grabbed her coat, checked that the letter was still in her pocket along with her mittens, and rushed back to the main room.

She ran so fast down the stairs to find Rumplestiltskin, she almost fell head over hills. However, he was nowhere to be seen when she got back to the main room. Perhaps he was waiting for her at the aviary, after all. Belle resumed her mad run to find the sorcerer, but she found something else entirely.

Right beside her snow Rumplestiltskin stood a snow Belle. She had a magnificent dress of golden leaves, and a single red rose just above her ear, in her carefully sculpted hair. And her eyes were made out of sapphires. But the most beautiful thing was her hand holding Rumplestiltskin’s. Belle was on the brink of tears again. The Dark One really wasn’t so dark after all. She could send her letter to her father without any regret.

“Rumplestiltskin!” she cried out. “I have my letter!”

The sorcerer hear her call and hesitated to come out of his hiding place in his workroom. He was sure she thought he was soft now. And how couldn’t she? Her voice came from the aviary. At least, she didn’t mentioned his snow Belle when she called him. He’d better get this over with. He was thankful that there was only one winter solstice each year.

“Good,” he said, magically appearing behind her.

He carefully avoided looking at her and she thankfully made no attempt to meet his eyes. All it took was one whistling to call the dove and some others to send him on his way with the letter attached to his leg.

“Thank you, Rumplestiltskin.”

Each time she said that, he wanted to do something evil to prove her she should fear him. But it was petty and he was getting tired of it. Maybe just for today, he could let the Dark One sleep.

“The present you promised me would better be worth it.”

“I’m not sure, but I think you’ll like it.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her biting her lip and blushing a bit. As things went, he knew he should fear what she wanted to give him, but he was too eager to get it over with to be careful. Before he could do anything to defend himself, Belle grabbed the lapels of his crocodile jacket and planted a kiss on his mouth. Her lips felt as sweet and warm as he dreamed they would. It lasted less than a second, but the salty taste of her delicious lips lingered on his mouth long after she was gone.

Belle looked at him fondly. It was the first time she saw Rumplestiltskin so lost. His eyes kept wandering to hers and her lips. They held the crucial question his gaping mouth seemed unable to ask.

“Merry winter solstice, Rumplestiltskin.”

She bit her lips and watched him one last time to commit his adorable reaction to memory. Yet she took only one step before stopping right before their snow selves.

“You know, I’m glad you built him a snow Belle. He looked lonely. I’m sure they’ll take good care of each other.”

Belle took some more steps, then stopped again and turned toward Rumplestiltskin.

“Aren’t you coming? The tea must be cold by now. I’m going to make some hot cocoa, for a change.”

Rumplestiltskin only nodded and smiled like a fool. Once she was out of sight, he touched his lips and remembered how wonderful her kiss had felt. The winter solstice really was the most magical time of the year. He couldn’t wait for the next one.


End file.
